The Destiny Fiasco
In honour of the Cygnus Emperox's 50th birthday, a massive shipbuilding project was commissioned by the Imperial Throne. The joint project between House Fornax and the Trilliant Ring was intended to create a marvelous super-yacht known as The Destiny. However, the ensuing fiasco has left the half-finished ship in dry-dock in excess of 30 years and stunted relations between the project partners. Even mentioning the word “Destiny” in the presence of either group is considered a major faux-pas. Codenamed Project Golden Jubilee, this monumental work order was commissioned in 3168 as a joint effort between House Fornax and the Trilliant Ring. A Throne Class super-yacht, this massive vessel was billed as the pinnacle of both form and function, capable of catering to the most demanding of tastes and outperforming all contending ships of its size. However, the first ship in this class - The Destiny - would end up becoming a legend in an unintended way. Some combination of mismanagement, poor logistics, cost overruns, and disputes between House Fornax and the Trilliant Ring have left the ship only partly finished and massively over budget. Almost 30 years later and the ship sits in dry-dock, missing most of its hull and almost all of its internal components. After the revelation of the House Cygnus and the ensuing assassination of the Emperox, the ship’s fate stands in limbo. While the Empire officially owns the rights to the ship, no Emperox stands to claim it, nor is any active party interested in continuing to work on the vessel. Both sides spin different accounts of what exactly ruined the project and they defend their claims fiercely, refusing to take responsibility. Further, each side refuses to continue working on the vessel, blaming each other for slights both real and imagined. Even bringing up the name “''The Destiny''” in the presence of House Fornax or the Trilliant Ring is considered a social faux-pas. Mentioning the topic at a shared event is as likely to lead to an exasperating shouting match as it is to armed conflict. House Fornax’s Account As is exhaustively detailed in the Annals and expense reports of House Fornax, Project Golden Jubilee, also known as The Destiny, first began to go awry when Trilliant’s designers brought several large shipments of raw golden Trillium to Aeternus' Chain and the dry docks where construction was beginning. Working under the assumption that this would be used primarily for internal circuitry, the Ferrifixes of Fornax choose to speak directly with the artisans and designers of the Trilliant Ring about its exact purpose. That much Trillium would mean an unprecedented amount of electronics within the ship that would exceed all theoretical bounds of its class. Upon having the full process of manufacturing explained and detailed, several Ferrifexes and Urbifexes raised their valid concerns to the Senate of House Fornax. Citing the dangers not only to working assets but also Aeternus' Chain itself and the nearby Link. Negotiations on the safety concerns and ways of working around them went back and forth for weeks, before the Senate decided on a method it felt amenable to all parties: the Trillium would have to be produced on Trillia IX or otherwise off-world as the Chain did not have the proper and approved facilities to handle the dangers posed by its manufacture and building facilities on Maja itself would prove even more costly. The Trilliant Ring would, of course, pay for this shipping themselves as this was a material needed to fulfill their own part of the project. As with all things, you must bring what you need to a project. In a show of good faith and as a way to being the considerable work needed on an efficient timetable, construction began on the skeleton of the ship. Efforts were made to compensate for any Trilliant additions to this skeleton but, recognizing that work was already beginning to fall behind, Fornax informed their Trilliant counterparts and gave guidelines on how both sets of technology could be made fully integrated. For instance, coating the already strong Fornax ship-grade steel with Trillium as needed. In spite of this proffered olive branch, Trilliant’s representatives were heard making slanderous comments about the quality of Fornax’s steel, citing it as “substandard” and “cheap”. Trilliant demanded compensation not only for their misspent time on Aeternus’ Chain but also that House Fornax would pay for all shipments of Trillium from Trillia IX. As this would not only place the project far over budget but would further delay the project beyond acceptable bounds, the project was placed on an indefinite hiatus while the matter was discussed. The Trilliant Ring’s Account The Trilliant Ring's depiction of events of the events differs considerably from House Fornax's account. The Trilliant Ring claims the project ran amok due to House Fornax’s desire to cut costs and use off-brand and substandard materials on the project. They further claimed that House Fornax’s pathetic artisans were ill-equipped to properly handle and work Trillium, a component the Trilliant Ring considered mandatory for the hull of The Destiny. Trillium is an expensive metamaterial used in electronics, armour, and is a staple of most Trilliant Ring goods. While incredibly rare in Acheron Rho, the Trilliant Ring mass produces industrial quantities artificially on Trillia IX’s planetary ring. However, it’s uncharacteristic manufacturing method requires the construction of a Lightway and regular Particle Accelerator Blasts, which release massive amounts of energy to the surrounding system. House Fornax expressed security concerns around constructing what could be considered a potentially devastating super-weapon around their construction facilities. Unimpressed with what they considered a “startling overreaction,” members of the Trilliant Ring insisted that the Lightway would be “totally awesome” and of substantial technological value to the House. Further, Trilliant shielding technology could be installed to protect elements of the Shipyard from the harmful radiation, as is done on Trillia IX. House Fornax’s insistence that the material instead be produced on Trillia IX and shipped to the work-site was deemed a ludicrous proposal. The Trilliant Ring argued that it would be prohibitively expensive to ship the requisite Trillium “halfway across the galaxy.” Before a compromise could be reached, House Fornax began constructing the hull of the ship out of artificially reinforced turbo-steel. Despite warnings that the additional mass and lack of conductivity of the turbo-steel would compromise the Trilliant Ring’s electronics, House Fornax forged ahead. The Trilliant Ring demanded the existing sections of the hull be completely rebuilt, as Trillium was a mandatory component for most of the on-board systems. This unauthorized use of cheaper and “substandard” alternatives had compromised the entire project and was a colossal waste of effort. In order for the project to proceed, the Trilliant Ring demanded that either they be allowed to construct a Lightway on Maja, or else House Fornax would have to compensate the Trilliant Ring for the shipping costs of the Trillium from Trillia IX. When House Fornax balked at the cost of shipping, the project was placed on indefinite hiatus. Category:The Trilliant Ring Category:House Fornax